Divine Judgment
by CruxisKat
Summary: in desperation Alphonse turns to human transmutation to bring his beloved brother back from beyond the Gate...however things never go as planned as long as human transmutation is involved...
1. Blood falls like rain

Title sucks, couldn't think of anything better. Um…this is my first Fullmetal Alchemist story, it's kind of weird but I hope you take the time to read it. Sort of crossover...sort of not...a little alternate universe...um it is kind of a crossover with Riviera: the promised land. Some things borrowed, but a lot of it is just norse mythology. Hopefully it is interesting…I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist riviera or anything…

**Divine Judgment**

Dark clouds filled the night sky making it impossible to see the moon and the stars. Lightening flashed, briefly illuminating the dark forest and the abandoned house it surrounded.

Running quickly through the torrential downpour, several figures started appearing from the thick surrounding forest. Each figure was wearing hooded rain coats, the hoods keeping the rain off their heads and hiding their facial features. The figures hastened their pace as a bright flash light erupted from windows the small rundown house in the center of the small clearing.

The dark figure leading the group got to the door and began trying to open it. No good, the door was locked. With no time to spare the person slammed into the door successfully smashing it open. The sight of the houses interior made the group gasp and a woman in the group let out a small, strangled scream.

Blood was splattered everywhere. There was so much of it; on the floor, the walls, even the roof had blood splattered on it. In the center of the single room house was a figure, soaked in blood. Directly across from this figure was what appeared to be a pile of bloodstained cloth. Surrounding the pile was a large circle painted on the floor in black, there were also similar circles on all four walls and the roof, all of them had intricate designs and symbols inside them. The figure sat with its back to the door, facing the lump of blood and fabric. The leader of the group threw back his hood, revealing black hair and smoldering obsidian eyes. He quickly rushed over to the blood covered figure.

"Alphonse! Are you alright?! What have you done?!" shouted the tall man as he grabbed the person, a young blond boy, and began shaking him. The rest of the group edged forward, worried about the youth but fearful at the same time. They each began pulling their hoods off, some coming right up beside the dark haired man and others hiding near the door.

"I did it…I brought him back…brother…" the blood covered teen said tiredly, dark circles were under his eyes, he looked like he was going to pass out from exhaustion. Instead of passing out he began moving forward, slowly crawling toward the bloody lump in the center of the circle. All eyes were drawn to that lump and it was discovered that it was moving, slowly, up and down, as if breathing.

"Edward?!" gasped a blond long-haired woman who appeared to be in her late teens. As Alphonse struggled to reach the figure within the circle the dark haired man approached it cautiously. The blond woman also began to slowly move toward the figure; however, she chose to stay behind the man.

The man reached out slowly and grabbed a bloody piece of fabric that covered the lump. As the fabric was pulled away a person was exposed. He was covered in blood but clearly human. As realization dawned on the man he rushed forward and quickly grabbed the boy and began checking him a pulse.

"He's alive!!" shouted the man. He then quickly began checking the boy for injuries. "There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with him, he's just unconscious." The man said to everyone in the room. Alphonse smiled weakly and sighed in relief as he drifted out of consciousness. The other ten people who had been craning their necks to see the two boys gave a collective sigh of relief and began approaching them.

"Thank goodness Alphonse is safe, and Edward! I thought I would never see him again! Someone up there must be watching out for those two!!" said an old woman as she walked up to Alphonse.

"We are very lucky that Alphonse is still alive, human transmutation is very risky business… I didn't think that Alphonse would attempt human transmutation again after all FullMetal did to get his body back. I thought he was the smarter of the two." The old woman nodded in agreement and moved to Alphonse's side and began checking him for any injuries. The dark-haired man carefully lifted the unconscious form of Edward and began making his way toward the rest of the group that was surrounding Alphonse.

A tall man with a single lock of short curly blond hair and a thick curly moustache bent down and picked up the younger Elric brother. "I suggest we get these two to a hospital where we can properly take care of them." Said the man. As soon as that was said he began to make his way through the crowded room toward the door.

Apprehensive of the storm outside, but agreeing that this small, blood covered house was no place to take care of the two unconscious boys, the rest of the group began making their way out of the shack and into the rain. Lightening flashed and thunder roared as they trudged through the dark forest and pounding rain toward Central.


	2. First glance

Chapter two, couldn't just put the first one up, that would be cruel...hopefully it sounds good, gets you hooked...um not sure about any pairings, feel free to comment and tell me what you think. Please tell me how I could improve or what is good...ya..that's about it...

**Divine Judgment**

**Chapter Two**

Soft eyelashes fluttered open, revealing molten gold irises. Blinking in confusion the eyes began to scan their surroundings. The owner of those eyes, a small, long blond-haired boy, sat upright in the narrow bed he was lying in.

"He's awake!! Everyone, come quickly!" came an excited voice from beside the boy. The boy looked over and saw that seated beside him was another boy. He too had long blond hair, only his was a little darker and little shorter than the other's and was tied back in a low ponytail. This other boy also had darker, greyer eyes than the boy in the bed. At the boy's cry several other people rushed into the small, white room where the two boys were.

The young boy in the bed silently took them all in. He noticed that several other people had been in the room with him as well. A young blond, longhaired, blue-eyed woman was seated next to the grey eyed boy. Seated on the other side of the golden-eyed youth was a tall man with black hair and dark blue, almost black eyes. The first few people to enter the room were dressed in blue uniforms, much like the one the black haired man was wearing. There were three women and seven men in that group. One of the women had amber eyes and long, blond hair that was pulled into a clip. Another woman had short dark hair and dark, worried blue eyes. The final woman had green eyes, black-rimmed square glasses and light brown hair that fell to just above her shoulders. There were three shorthaired, blond, uniformed men that came in, one had long bangs that fell on both sides of his face, another had messy hair and an unlit cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth, the last was very tall, he had blue eyes and only one lock of curly hair that hung in the center of his forehead. A man with short orange hair and a small beard on his chin came in with a tall man with grey hair, and a short black haired man with glasses. Leading the group of uniformed people was a man with short black hair, rectangular glasses and a small beard outlining the lower part of his face.

Several other people not wearing uniforms came in as well, two of them with blond hair stayed fairly close together. They were clearly brothers, the older one was tall with longer blond hair, the younger was much shorter, he had a green hat and he was nervously trying to hide behind his older brother. A short, old woman also came in; she had a thin, long pipe sticking out of the side of her mouth. A fearsome looking woman with her hair in many ropelike braids tied back in a ponytail came in, followed closely by a large bearded man.

"Brother! I'm so glad you're awake!" came the voice of the boy sitting next to the bed, attracting the gaze of the golden eyed youth in the bed. All eyes were on the boy sitting in the small hospital bed.

"…brother?" muttered the blond boy. He gave an apologetic look to the boy sitting beside him, "I'm sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else…" The grey eyed youth's face fell at that.

"What? Brother! Don't you remember me?" the boy moved closer to the bed and looked at the other with concern written all over his face. The boy in bed slowly shook his head and gave a small apology. Everyone in the room was speechless at that point; they looked back and forth, from one boy to the other, to see what they were going to do next. The youth in the chair made desperate attempts to say something, unfortunately he only managed to open and close his mouth wordlessly. Tears were quickly gathering in the corners of his grey-gold eyes.

The boy in the bed began to shift uneasily since everyone in the cramped room was watching him expectantly; however, he had no idea as to what they expected. "…um…who are you guys? Why are you all in here?" said the boy in the bed as he gave the entire group a scrutinizing look.

Several of the members of the group looked nervous after that was said; they all began to look away from the calculating stare of the golden eyed youth. Many shifted uncomfortably and began to mutter lame excuses.

"Edward…do you really not remember us?" said the blond girl who was seated next to the grey eyed boy. It looked as if she was trying her best not to cry, and failing at it. Already tears were falling from her crystal blue eyes, preventing her from continuing.

"Sorry, I don't have a clue who any of you are. I don't know how you might know me either, I don't deal with humans too often." Said the boy as he tilted his head and took another glance at the room's occupants. When he said that the blond boy seated next to him suddenly broke down. Tears streamed down his face and he got up and fled the room so fast that the chair he was seated in fell to the ground with a thud. The girl who had been seated next to him quickly followed the boy, leaving the golden eyed youth behind in the small, crowded room.

"Alphonse! Alphonse are-are you alright" said the girl as she caught up to the grey eyed boy who was trying desperately to rid his eyes from tears. He had ran down the hall and found himself facing a window overlooking a large river. Rain fell from the sky just as tears fell from his eyes.

"H-he doesn't remember me!" sobbed Alphonse. "I thought that I had finally done something right. I-I thought that we could be happy again!" He was trying to stop the tears that flowed endlessly from his eyes, but to no avail. He kept his back to the girl, trying not to let her see the tears that continued to flow.

"M-maybe this is just something that happens after human transmutation… Maybe it's like what happened to you and to General Hughes…" said the girl as she reached out and put a small hand on his shoulder.

"No, this is different. We just didn't have any memory of what happened after we went to the Gate. He should still remember me…this shouldn't be happening!" he said, resting his head against the cool glass of the window. "It's my fault…I must have done the transmutation wrong…But I thought that it was perfect…I thought that I did it just as Ed did it…"

"Don't blame yourself." Came a cool voice from behind them. They turned and saw the uniformed raven-haired man walking slowly towards them. "This isn't your fault, it just happened. Just consider yourself lucky that your transmutation worked at all. Be glad that he is back, perhaps he will remember in time…"

"General Mustang…" said the woman quietly, "yes, you should be glad that Ed is back! Performing human transmutation never goes as planned, let's just be thankful that Ed is alive and with us again."

Alphonse looked at both of them for a moment; the tears were finally beginning to stop. He then smiled weakly and nodded, "Ya, you're right. I shouldn't have expected everything to go back to normal…I just wanted it so bad…But maybe he will remember soon, just as I slowly remembered our adventures looking for the Philosophers Stone together. Thank you General Mustang."

Mustang looked at them and gave them a small smile, "Alright, now let's go back in there and find out what he does remember." He then began leading the other two back to the room they had left Edward and the rest of their group in.

"Thanks Winry." said Alphonse to the blond-haired woman as he matched pace with her. "Thank you for always being there for me and for Ed…It means a lot to me and to Ed as well…"

Winry blushed at that and began to tuck her long hair behind her ears nervously. "No problem, I'll always be here for you Alphonse…" The three of them then turned and entered the small room where Ed and everyone else were waiting.


	3. Angelic confusion

Alright, third chapter. Hopefully this gets things going. And I want reviews! I don't care whether they're good or bad, just pick one and tell me what you think. Tell me to continue if you like it or to stop if you hate it. If you don't tell me what you think I may do what you don't want. If you hate it and don't tell me I will probably keep writing and if you like it and don't tell me I might stop! So tell me if I should stop wasting my time by writing this or to continue if you think it's going somewhere! And you don't have to know anything about Riviera, everything will be explained in due time…Anyway, enough of that, on with the story!

**Divine Judgment **

**Chapter Three**

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Edward was supposed to be overjoyed to be with his little brother again, he wasn't supposed to have forgotten him entirely. Alphonse Elric was struggling to cope with the situation at hand. He put on a brave face for Winry and General Mustang, but inside a fierce battle was raging. He had hoped that by researching and performing the transmutation to bring Ed back everyone would be happy again. He had envisioned that when his older brother came back he would make everything all better again. Everyone would be happy and smile at him and his brother; they would tell stories and make jokes. Everything was supposed to be perfect… Ed wasn't supposed to just "forget" everything and everyone they had done and met before.

Alphonse didn't think he was ready to face this new Ed. He didn't know if he could handle talking to him or even looking at him when he didn't know who he was or just how much he and everyone else had done to get him back. He thought he was going to be sick. No time for that now though, Mustang was already opening the door to the hospital room that his older brother had stayed in while he was unconscious for the past three days. _'Be brave Alphonse.' _He thought as he took in a deep breath and entered the small room.

Upon entering the room he and his two companions saw two groups of people on each side of the room. Well, one group of people on one side Edward on the other. Ed was out of the small hospital bed and was stretching his arms. Well it looked like he was stretching, but it also looked like he was… feeling his bones? Alphonse watched him for a moment; he was using his right hand to trace the bones and muscles in his left arm. Alphonse had been relieved when they had discovered that Ed had a real right arm and left leg, no metal. However, it was a little weird that both limbs were slightly darker than the rest of his skin. A large scar on each of them seemed to connect the limbs to the rest of his body. He was so pale as well; it looked like he hadn't gotten a day of sunlight since they had been separated. After watching him trace his left arm and move on to counting his ribs he decided to find out what he was doing.

"Um, what are you doing?" he asked rather timidly. Ed looked sharply towards him; it looked like he hadn't noticed they had come back.

"Damage check." He stated, after saying that he returned to counting his ribs, this time on the other side of his body. General Mustang gave an amused snort.

"This is a hospital; you've been taken care of. You are fine!" laughed Mustang. Al was glad to hear that, he hadn't heard the General laugh like that since his brother had vanished. It looked like the other members of his unit were glad to hear that too, Riza Hawkeye had a small smile on her face and it looked as if her normally serious eyes were beginning to get a little watery.

"A hospital you say?" said Ed, he stopped counting his ribs and looked over at Mustang. He frowned, "I didn't think they let this many people in to see one person, especially in a room this tiny. I didn't think that nineteen people could fit into this little room!" After he said that he had a huge grin on his face, it seemed like he was in a good mood today, that was good, Alphonse had been worried that any conversations he would have with this new Ed would be awkward. He let out the breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding.

This was how it was supposed to be, they were supposed to be laughing and having fun. Alphonse was so glad to see his big brother happy. He had so few memories of his brother and their adventure together, he had even less of them when they were happy.

Al smiled and decided that he should get into this conversation too, "We got special permission to see you, and this was the largest single patient room they would give us!"

Ed laughed at that, "I thought that any hospital I went to would give me at least an entire wing to myself, I am a Grim Angel after all! I deserve the best!" He had a large smile on his face at that point and did a little pose; he stood up straight and brushed the hair from his golden eyes. Al laughed at that, he could tell that his brother was only joking about himself being so important, but he couldn't help but wonder if what he was saying was true. He didn't understand why he called himself a 'Grim Angel' though.

"Grim Angel? What is that?" asked Al, deciding that he couldn't wait and figure it out himself and instead chose to get his questions answered the easy way; by asking. Ed looked startled for a second though after that question was asked, a look of horror was plastered on his face after the initial surprise wore off.

"You don't know what a Grim Angel is?! Seriously?!" he almost shouted, he was making exaggerated gestures with his arms as he spoke. He paused in his ranting to see if they were just joking with him, when he was met with shocked and confused stares he sighed in defeat, and then collapsed into a big heap on the floor with a loud groan.

Everyone had no idea what to do at this point, Fletcher was practically out the door in fear of Ed's outburst. "Sorry, we really have no clue what a 'Grim Angel' is. We know what an angel is, sure, but I don't think you are any kind of angel…" said General Hughes, shaking his head at the very thought of Ed being an angel. Alphonse was having trouble seeing his brother as any kind of angel as well; he just couldn't imagine his brother in a white robe with feathery white wings and a halo above his head. That was just plain silly!

"What is your definition of 'angel'?" asked Ed, he had moved so now instead of being a heap on the floor he was sitting on his knees facing them all.

"Well…um, isn't an angel someone in heaven who has white feathery wings and a glowing halo? They are servants of God aren't they?" said Alphonse. He was unsure as to what sort of definition Ed would want, the Ed he knew didn't care or believe in religion of any sort.

"Some angels are like that, yeah. But me, I'm a Grim Angel. I'm an angel who has the job of being an elite soldier of the gods. It is my duty to pass judgment on demons." Stated Ed. He looked each one in the eye during this conversation, trying to judge their reaction to this piece of information.

"Demons? You mean there are really demons? From hell?" said Winry, bringing her hand up to her mouth in nervous habit. Ed looked her square in the eye and gave a grim nod.

"Ya right! There's no such thing as demons! Or angels for that matter! That's just a big crock!" said Russell. He snorted at the very idea that what Ed was saying was even remotely true.

"If that's what you believe, fine. But I'll have you know that that's a lie. If you want proof that I'm a Grim Angel, watch this." As he said that he began unbuttoning the pajama top the hospital had supplied him with. After he unbuttoned it he took it off and set it on the narrow hospital bed. He folded his hands in front of him, making a small church with a false steeple with his fingers, and closed his eyes. After he did that a strange wind began to blow inside the room, it was strange since there were no windows open for any wind to enter the room. The wind blew Ed's hair around and seemed to focus around him. The wind grew fiercer and fiercer, it seemed like a mini tornado was forming in this hospital room! Alphonse could hear some of the hospital staff making their way in a hurry toward the room to find out what was happening. The wind was blowing Alphonse's hair into his eyes making it nearly impossible for him to see.

There! A flash of light was emitted beneath Ed's feet. There appeared to be a transmutation circle consisting of several intricate designs made of white light surrounding Ed. It lasted for just a few seconds but it put millions of questions inside Al's head.

Just as it seemed like the wind was never going to stop it died down, and in the middle of all the commotion was Ed, who now had these black feathered wings protruding from his back. They weren't completely black; they had this dark reddish tinge to them. The wings were large, they came out from just below his shoulders and went up to about head level, there at the joint they had this hook-like claw and folded, they continued on down and the tips just barely touched the ground.

"Believe me now?" he said with a smirk plastered on his face, golden eyes glittering ferociously.


	4. Second glances

Hey, here is the next chapter, a little sooner than I had thought I would get it out. Hopefully it doesn't get lost in all the other stories people put up on the weekends. I hope you like it; maybe it will answer a few of your questions, maybe it will add more…

Thank you all for the reviews, to answer the one question I got: no this is not after the movie. It is on a different time line sort of, it follows the manga more closely than the anime too…All will be explained later... maybe... hope you like it!

**Divine Judgment**

**Chapter Four**

Wings.

Fullmetal had wings.

This couldn't be happening. Yes, this was all just some bizarre dream, this must all be part of a dream; Alphonse wouldn't dare perform human transmutation, and even if he did it would be even less likely that it would actually work, and it would be downright impossible for that snot-nosed little brat of an alchemist to be an angel.

'_I probably just fell asleep while signing some meaningless paperwork. Time to wake up now Mustang!'_

…

'_Come on! If you don't wake up soon Hawkeye will use you for target practice again!'_

…

'_Shit. This can't really be happening, can it?'_

A drop of warm liquid on his cheek snapped him out of his panicked thoughts. He tentatively reached up with a shaking hand and rubbed the liquid off his face. He then took a look at what he had wiped off. Blood. It was unmistakably a drop of blood.

'_How did that get there? I'm not bleeding am I?'_ He looked up to see where it could have come from, and rubbed the side of his face where the blood was found to see if there was any more.

He saw that several of the others wore confused expressions and had several drops of blood on them. In fact, he had blood drops on his uniform. It was like a spray. He looked in the direction of where it could have come from and saw Ed, slowly flapping his large, black wings and then carefully stretching them out. The dark wings couldn't extend completely; the room was too small for that. But there was something strange about those wings, they were black but had a dark red tinge to them, and on the floor beneath them, more blood droplets.

'_Is the blood coming from his wings?'_

"Yeah, that blood is coming from my wings. That always happens when I first bring them out." said the blond noticing his questioning look, "No real harm done, just a little mess on the floor… and maybe the walls." He gave an unconcerned shrug after that, wings falling gracefully to his sides. He then began to look around the room, at the corners mostly, as if looking for something.

"W-what are you looking for?" asked Alphonse, voice sounding a little weak at the beginning.

'_No doubt he sounds weak; this whole event has been emotionally draining for him. It's just been one surprise after the other. I'm surprised he is as calm as he appears, I'm shaking like a leaf in the wind…'_

"I'm looking for my stuff. Do you know where it could be?" said Ed. He still had a goofy smile on his face.

'_Why is he still smiling? It's like he enjoys causing us grief!'_

"Oh! You mean your cloths?" exclaimed Alphonse, "We found you in them, their a little weird though… they were all bloody so we had them washed. I'll get the nurse to get them." He then turned and went to the door.

Both he and Mustang realized at about the same time that the door was open and right outside the door was the nurse, with a stunned expression on her face. She was staring with her jaw to the floor at Ed's wings. She had obviously run here to see what was going on when Edward revealed he had wings.

'_Well, it's not everyday you see an angel'_ thought Mustang, feeling a little sorry for the poor woman. Her name was Trisha or something, he remembered going out with her at one point in time but he went out with so many in the past that he was having trouble remembering them all.

Alphonse gave her an apologetic look, "Um, excuse me. Do you think you could bring me his cloths?" he asked, trying to be as polite as possible, he obviously didn't want to scare her anymore. He was met with an amazed look; she opened and closed her mouth as if trying to say something.

"Thank you." Said the boys' alchemy teacher Izumi to the nurse as she reached over and closed the door in her face. "Alright, now before your stuff gets here: let's talk. How much do you remember?"

'_Boy, she sure is straightforward… I wouldn't want to get on her bad side… Wait, she hates the military and I'm in the military… Guess I already am on her bad side…'_

Ed gave her a blank look at that point. "I have no idea who any of you are. And I don't have any clue how I would know you, what with you being giants and all." He said shrugging again, "But unfortunately, since you all are giants, I have to 'judge' you now. I am really sorry about this, since you guys did apparently take care of me while I was unconscious, but this is the will of the gods' and I have to abide by it…Durathror..." As he said that he reached out in front of him, he moved his hand to the side as if performing some sort of martial art move. The strange thing was; something was forming in the air where his hand had been.

It started out as just a wisp, and then it solidified. It was steel gray and jagged like a lightening bolt at one end, strait in the middle were Ed had grabbed hold of it, and shaped even more like a lightening bolt at the end he was pointing towards them. It was a lance. It was about a foot taller than Edward and it looked really sharp and threatening the way he held it. He had gripped it in the middle with both hands and held chest level with his legs bent, the right one in front of his left. Did he really mean to attack them?!

"Wait! We aren't giants!! We're human!" said Alphonse in terror. Ed gave them all an amazed look at that.

"You're human?! Really? I've never actually seen humans apart from in books before." He exclaimed, standing up straight and pointing the spear at the roof instead of at them. He then looked at them hesitantly, "You don't happen to work for giants do you?"

"No, we have no connections with any giants." Said Hawkeye, she slowly removed her hand from her gun. At least she was prepared if he had come at them, but then that was probably just a reflex and not a conscious act.

"That's good!" said Ed cheerfully, as if he had not just threatened to kill them. The little kid who was here was whimpering softly in the back of the group, Mustang couldn't really blame him. All the people here had come for the sole purpose of seeing Ed, and so far he had forgotten them completely and threatened their lives.

'_Is this all a joke to him? He keeps laughing and smiling as if we are his best friends! How could he stand there looking at us laughing when just a second ago he was at our throats?!'_

"Hahaha! I was thinking you guys were a bit short for giants anyway!" He took a few steps backwards and sat down on the end of the bed. His spear was leaning beside him and his wings were on each side. Mustang couldn't resist at this point.

"The only reason there was any confusion was because you're so short!" laughed Mustang. At first he was met with a shocked look, it didn't look like he expected them to be as happy as he and able to make jokes. He then laughed at Mustang's comment.

"Who you callin' so short a dwarf would mistake him as one of their own?" he said. He seemed to be trying to keep his voice down; apparently he had heard the soft whimpering of the blond child, what was his name? Fletcher? "Seriously though, for one of the Æsir I'm not that short!"

"Æsir? What's that? I thought you were a Grim Angel?" asked Alphonse. He had moved closer and was now sitting in a chair beside Ed who was sitting on the bed. Ed shifted uncomfortably then.

"It's hard to explain. It might actually be above your heads…" began Ed; he shifted his lance to his right side and then began to lean on it. He then looked Alphonse straight in the eyes. "The Æsir are a type of people who live in Asgard. Most of the gods are Æsir, so are most of their servants."

"Asgard?" asked Al, "Where's that?"

Ed sighed, "You guys don't know anything do you?" He groaned at that.

There was a sharp knock at the door then, snapping Ed out of his self-pity and the others out of their awkward silence.


	5. Military interference

Woo, chapter five. Can you believe it? I'm having trouble believing it, I never thought that people would actually be interested in this. It's kinda different from the other stuff that's out there… I love reading all your reviews, makes me really happy to see that I can make other people happy with my writing. Thank you all soooooooo much! Please review some more! And feel free to email me and ask me anything, but if it will give away anything in the story I might just ramble and not actually tell you anything…

Anyway…Here we go!

**Divine Judgment **

**Chapter Five**

Alphonse was startled out of his pondering by a sharp knock on the hospital room door. A second after the knock the door was thrown open; barging into the room was a large group of people wearing blue Amestres Military uniforms, just like the ones General Mustang and the others were wearing. The soldiers lined up against three of the walls in the room, all of them had their weapons at the ready. After the other soldiers came in a familiar figure stepped into the room.

The Fuhrer.

_'What is he doing here?!'_ thought Alphonse desperately. They had made a deal with the Fuhrer and the other homunculi that they wouldn't tell anyone or do anything about them; in exchange they wouldn't have to worry about being attacked themselves. They had managed to get by these past five years without Ed by keeping their heads down and their mouths shut. Fear crept into Al's heart, what if he came here to take his brother away?! They had just been reunited and now they were going to be separated again?!

At the Fuhrer's entrance Ed stood and readied his lance. It looked like Ed wasn't going to tolerate any fun and games now. Both he and the Fuhrer had grim expressions on their faces, at least until Ed gave the Fuhrer a sinister smirk.

"A demon? Ha-ha! Now that's more like it! I was starting to get bored with all this sitting around!" he laughed, slowly inching closer to the Fuhrer.

"Hm, you call me a demon and yet you are the one who more closely fits that description, what with the black wings and all." said the Fuhrer with a sneer. "I heard the rumor that you had been brought back, but I never imagined it to be true. What does it feel like to be a product of Human Transmutation? Eh? Fullmetal?"

"Fullmetal? I don't have a clue what you are talking about, Accursed One." said Ed, still smirking. He held his spear threateningly towards the most important man in the Amestres Military. Because of this open hostility the numerous soldiers lining the walls aimed their guns at him and prepared to fire at Ed. Some of them looked stunned to see that he did indeed have wings, but their loyalty to their country and leader was far greater than their uncertainty.

"You can't remember? Really? This is becoming more interesting by the second. However I didn't come here to fight. I came here only to investigate the rumors that Alphonse Elric had succeeded in bringing his older brother back from the dead." Said King Bradley as he looked down his nose at Ed and Al. He also gave a patronizing look towards the other occupants of the room.

"No one comes back from the dead." Stated Ed glaring at the Fuhrer.

"Apparently you do." Growled Bradley, "If you want more information why don't you ask your beloved little brother." He pointed at Alphonse. "But I can only wonder as to what one from Asgard is doing down here, guess we can only wait and see what happens next. But do try to stay out of our way, we wouldn't want you or anyone close to you to get hurt now, would we?" after he said that he gave them a mocking smile and turned and began to leave the room. He stopped; however, a step away from the door, "And Mustang, you better not let him do anything reckless, or else it will be your head on the chopping block." He then proceeded to leave the room, party in tow.

After he departed the nurse that they had told to bring Ed's stuff was standing their, with the same confused look upon her face that she had when she left. Alphonse let out a sigh of relief, he was so worried that a fight was going to break out; he was so glad the Fuhrer had left and let him stay with his brother. Now all he needed was to get that brother of his to remember him…

"That was weird. Oh well, it's too cramped in here for fighting anyway." said Ed shrugging. "Is that my stuff?" he asked, pointing to the bundle of red and black fabric the nurse was holding. She gave him a nervous nod to him. He then went over and took the pile from her, all the while smiling kindly at her. After he had that he shut the door slowly in her face.

Al watched him as he began sorting the pile of fabric; he set his spear down so he could use both hands. After making two piles he turned and gave the other occupants of the room a skeptical look.

"Could you guys leave?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "I kinda want to change" The others exchanged looks and nods, in the end it was the General who spoke up.

"Alright, but be quick about it. We will be waiting in the hall, after your finished we seriously need to have a little chat."

Ed snickered at that, "I think that we need to have more than a 'little chat' to understand exactly what is going on here." Al agreed; there was so much about this Ed that they didn't know, and so much that he didn't seem to know as well. The group began to slowly make their way out of the cramped room into the narrow hospital hallway. After the last person was out the door, Mustang, Ed shut it and left them outside to think about all that had gone on.

Al knew that some of the people here had absolutely no clue as to what was happening. Many of the people didn't know that the Fuhrer was indeed a homunculus; they probably had no idea why Ed had called him a demon. But how did Ed know he wasn't human? Could he tell just by looking at him? There was really no way that the others could tell; Al had been shocked to learn that this seemingly kind man was in fact a monster.

But was Ed calling him a demon for the same reason they were calling him a monster?

This was all so confusing. Al wished that his Ed would come back and take all his worries and fears away, so they could live happily again.

A gentle hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned and saw Winry standing beside him, a worried expression upon her beautiful face but still trying to comfort him the best way she knew how. By being there. She had always been there, always. No matter who needed it, she was always ready to lend an ear and provide some support during the toughest times.

If only Ed had turned to her instead of trying to do everything himself. In that regard, Al thought his brother was a fool. But maybe Winry wasn't the one he needed comfort from…

The door slowly opened and a fully dressed Edward Elric stepped out into the hall. He was wearing what looked like black jeans, a black sleeveless muscle shirt, a dark red coat overtop of that that fell to his knees, black boats on his feet and black gloves on his hands. The coat wasn't done up, revealing his shirt underneath and what appeared to be a bead necklace with a cross on top of it. His dark red-black wings seemed to go very well with his outfit; they hung to his sides and seemed to twitch every now and then, as if not used to hanging limply by his sides. His dark grey lance was held loosely in his left hand.

"Finally!" laughed Mustang, stepping a little closer. General Mustang had been through a lot since Ed had left. He had been face with the tough choice of giving up in a hopeless struggle, or fight it and be overwhelmed by the strength of the homunculi. Mustang had been devastated to learn that Ed had been taken away; it seemed as if the man had become an empty shell after Ed had gone, completely devoid of his old personality. Seeing him laughing and making jokes like this brought back so many happy memories for Al.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm finally done. Anyway, let's go somewhere where we won't get interrupted again. And I want to see this 'Human Transmutation'. Show me what you did to 'bring me back from the dead'." He said, giving each of them a dubious look.

"Alright, I can show you where I performed it… but it's not a pretty sight…" muttered Alphonse. General Mustang and the rest of the people gathered around and began to give each other nervous glances.

"You can't." said Mustang.

"Why not?" asked Ed, raising an eyebrow.

"The house where you performed it no longer exists, Alphonse…" mumbled Havoc.

"What do you mean by 'no longer exists'?" asked Al, worry showing on his face. Mustang avoided his gaze and then spoke up.

"I kind of, burned the house down."

"What?!" said Ed, "Jeez, what are you? A pyromaniac?!" he laughed at that. "Well, whatever. Just draw me some pictures of what you used to 'raise the dead'. Now, let's go someplace more spacious where we can actually have a 'proper' discussion." That being said he turned and began to walk down the hall, the wrong way for getting out of the hospital…

"Um… If you want to leave the hospital then we should go this way." said Al, pointing towards the stairs that lead to the main entrance.

"Then we shall go that way!" said Ed turning around and beginning to head towards the stairs. "Yeesh, you guys need to speak up sooner! Take more initiative!" laughed Ed, a slight blush forming on his face.


	6. Stuck in the boondocks

Made a little updates in this one, I spelled something wrong and didn't double check it before putting it up. Nothing major. Sorry about the mistake! Thank you again for the updates, and I'm not just going to put this one up, a new chapter is on the way too!

**Divine Judgment**

**Chapter Six**

"Hmmm"

….

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

……………

"Fascinating…."

"Is it really?" asked Alphonse nervously as he inched closer to Edward who was standing in the middle of the Hughes' living room. "You've been saying that for hours now!" The group had headed over to General Hughes' house after leaving the hospital, they decided that while it would be smaller it would be safer than if they went to Central headquarters. It had taken them longer than they expected to get there, since they had to stop partway through their journey to make a disguise to hide Ed's wings. In the end all they managed to do was put a large jacket over them, courtesy of Roy Mustang.

The group was gathered around the living room, everyone had found a seat, be it on the couch or on the floor. The rest of the Hughes family was also gathered around, Elicia being fascinated but fearful of Ed's black wings.

Alphonse had drawn all six of the transmutation circles he had used and Ed had been 'examining' them for the past hour. He slowly looked over each one, tracing some of the outlines and making soft humming noises all the while. They had tried talking to him while he was 'reading' them, but every time they did he would flap his wings and fly away from them. He wouldn't go very far, the only thing he managed to do by 'flying away' was blow some papers around and mess up peoples' hair. However he did clearly convey the message that he did not want to be bothered. Ed cleared his throat and set down the last circle on the small coffee table in the center of the room, by doing so every face in the room was turned to him.

"Indeed it is fascinating. These appear to be overly elaborate Magic Circles. That's all they are; a means of teleportation." He said, sitting down on the floor in front of the coffee table facing everyone, wings resting on the floor behind him. Alphonse followed suit, choosing to sit on Ed's right side.

"Magic Circles?" asked Al.

"Yeah, all of them could easily be condensed into one and that one would be what is called a 'Magic Circle'. Magic Circles are used mainly as a means of traveling a great distance is a short amount of time, through teleportation." Said Ed, he was busy lining up all the pieces of paper so they were in front of him.

"They can be made into one? Are you sure, I did a lot of research and this was the best way I could think of doing it to make it work…" mumbled Alphonse, talking to his brother about alchemy like this was just like back in the old days. He would think of something and then his brother would alter it by saying that his was too complex, and if he did it Ed's way it would work better. His brother was like that, he would look at something and after a few moments would come up with an entirely different way to do it, one that was always 'more efficient'.

"Yes, this can be made into one. It looks like you don't know what each of these symbols mean, do you?"

"Well, no one really knows what these symbols mean, there are many theories, but the 'language', if there is one, has been lost." said Al uncomfortably, this Ed seemed so different; he had the air of certainty about him. He knew what he was doing, he was absolutely sure of it and there was no way that he could be wrong. At least that's what Al felt when he was around him.

"These symbols are part of a language, it's used mainly in Asgard, so I wouldn't really expect the people of Jotunheim to know what it means."

"Jotunheim?" said Mustang, "What is that?"

"Jotunheim is the realm of the giants and demons, where we are now. At least that's where I think we are; I'm still not one hundred percent certain."

"Well, if it helps, we are in Central City right now." offered Mustang, looking rather nervous about being the Grim Angel's center of attention.

"Central? Central Jotunheim?" asked Ed, tilting his head to the side while looking at Mustang.

"Central Amestres" said Mustang with a sigh.

"Amestres?" muttered Ed, looking thoughtful, "I've never heard of that…hmmm… well, I know there was that one demon from earlier, but are there any other demons that you see around here?" he asked. He was looking at each one in turn as if trying to see something in their eyes. Maybe recognition?

"We don't have any demons around here, we didn't even know they existed until you showed up." said Russell.

"No demons, eh? And no angels either…" Ed had his hand on his chin and looked deep in thought. "We couldn't be in Midgard, could we?" he asked looking back at Roy.

"Midgard?" repeated Mustang, looking questioningly towards Edward. Ed sighed and put his hand on his head as if in frustration.

"The realm of men, of humans."

"That sounds like it." agreed Alphonse. Mustang gave a nod in agreement as well, so did many others in the room. Ed paused for a moment; he removed his hand from his head and gave them a disbelieving look.

"No. Way." Said Ed, he then stood up and put his hand up to his forehead as if in despair, "Not Midgard! Not the Hick's Ville of the Universe! No, woe-is-me!" that being said he kind of collapsed into a heap on the floor. Again. This was the second time he had done something like this; he really seemed to enjoy overacting.

"Is being in Midgard really so bad?" asked Al. Ed looked at him with a horrified look on his face and nodded.

"It is bad! It is badder than bad! Midgard is the forgotten realm; it is so far behind that it is not even funny. I don't want to be stuck here!" moaned Ed; he looked like he was clawing at the sky for a moment as if trying to reach something that wasn't there.

"Well, S-sorry." said Alphonse nervously, Ed pulled himself back into a cross-legged sitting position. He had turned himself so he was facing Al.

"So…What did you summon me here for?" he asked.

"S-summon? I didn't summon you…" said Al.

"Yes you did. You used the Magic Circle to summon me from Asgard to Midgard." said Ed with a nod and a wink.

"Well, I-I didn't think you were actually alive and doing something…I thought you were dead, and I wanted to bring you back, so we could be a family and be happy again." said Al, voice becoming weak during the last part and tears had started to gather in the corners of his grey-gold eyes.

"You thought I was dead? This is intriguing." said Ed, he was resting his chin on the back of his right hand and had positioned his elbow on his right leg.

"Yes, you had died, or at least that's what we thought…you were taken away after you had succeeded in returning my soul to my body and bringing General Hughes back from the dead…" said Al; he was trying to avoid Ed's predatory like stare.

"Back from the dead? That's impossible." said Ed. His brow furrowing in concentration.

"Somehow you managed to pull it off." said Mustang softly.

"Alright, this is bugging me now. How did this Hughes guy die? Was it in combat?" said Ed looking them over again.

"I died in combat; at least I think I did. I can't really remember what happened on the night it happened though." said Hughes, glasses shining in the lamplight.

"If you died in combat then that means the Valkyries must have taken your soul and 'escorted' you to Valhalla. That means that you wouldn't have been stuck in Helheim for all eternity. So in that respect I might have been able to 'resurrect' you." said Ed thoughtfully. But I don't see how I could even know you guys…"

"You still don't think we are your friends?" asked Al sadly. He knew that this Edward was having trouble accepting the fact that they were brothers and that all of these people were his friends who had missed dearly for the past five years.

"I don't see how I could have met you during my time as a Grim Angel…"

"Well, we knew you before you were a Grim Angel." said Winry nervously.

"Really? Well that explains it." said Ed with a nod and a smile.

"Explains what?" asked Winry with a nervous look on her face. She brushed some stray hair out of her face.

"Well, in order to become a Grim Angel I had to lose something very important to me."

"Equivalent Exchange." muttered Alphonse.

"Yes, sort of. To get my Diviner and become a true Grim Angel I basically lost my life. I lost all of the memories I had of my life before becoming a Grim Angel." said Edward slowly.

"Y-you lost your memories?" asked Winry. Ed nodded slowly towards her.

"But why? Why would you give up your past life to become an angel? Didn't you care about us?" asked Al, voice starting to break.

"I was a human. All humans crave power. I did what I did to gain power, and I got it."


	7. Child's play

New chapter alert! Hehehehe. Anyway, this is a new chapter as you may have guessed. I plan on drawing some pictures and putting them up on deviantart. I've got one there now if anyone is curious as to what Ed's lance looks like... if you want to see it just look at my home page in my profile...

If you want to just use your own imagination that's fine too. Thanks again for the wonderful reviews, and favorites! Makes me really happy, thanks a lot you guys!

**Divine Judgment**

**Chapter Seven**

Silence filled the room. It was an awkward silence, one filled with hundreds of withheld questions and objections. Surely Edward didn't believe that in the past he was a greedy human and only cared for power. Didn't he even once think that there were people in his past who loved and cared for him still? Alphonse didn't know what to say.

The more he talked with this Ed the more he became sure that this was in fact his real brother. "Move forward", "don't look back"; he remembered his brother saying those kinds of things all the time, this Ed seemed to live by that logic as well. Alphonse knew that it was good advice, but sometimes one should look back; if they don't they could miss out on seeing all the people who are standing behind them, ready to give them a helping hand.

"You can't be serious! The Edward that we knew would never do anything like that just to gain power! The Ed I knew was a good person; he wasn't greedy or power-hungry like other humans. He was good. He always put other people first." Said Winry, tears were starting to form in her eyes. Alphonse hated that. He hated that Ed was the only person that would make her cry. He hated Edward for that, he shouldn't make her cry; how dare he make her sad. Al wanted to tell her everything was alright, he wanted to make her happy again, but she only seemed to have eyes for Ed.

"Yeah! Ed was "the Peoples' Alchemist"! He always tried to do what was right, no matter what the cost was!" said Russell Tringham indignantly.

"So what? I never said I cared about who this other "Edward" you speak of was. I was just telling you who _I_ was." Snorted Ed, avoiding their gaze by looking at the white ceiling and closing his eyes.

"But you are _that_ Edward!" said Alphonse, "Please believe us!"

"You just can't accept the fact that this beloved Edward of yours has died, can't you just let it go? He is gone! No more! Quit trying to make me become him!" growled Edward, "I see what's going on now, you pathetic humans are trying in vain to bring this dead brother of yours back from the dead by turning me into him! You fools don't even really care about me do you? All you want is to return this "hero" of yours from the grave by making someone who just happens to look similar think that he is him! You people make me sick." He spat, disgust evident in his every expression. He had risen during his speech, now he was in a defensive stance, wings were pulled out, they were out at his sides seeming to make himself appear larger than he really was, and it looked like he was ready to take off if he needed to. His lance was held out in a defensive position in front of him.

"You think we're trying to trick you?! How dare you accuse us of such!" roared Mustang, "The only reason anyone is here is because we all care for you! We know who you are, but you certainly don't! Your brother goes against everything we told him just to bring you back and this is the treatment you give us! You're terrible! You're not an angel! You're a demon!"

Al was getting pretty scared now. He was upset that his brother didn't believe him, but he had been through something like this before with Ed, only he had been the one who doubted the other. He was pretty sure that yelling at Ed wasn't going to make his brother believe him; in fact he was starting to think that a fight was going to break out between the General and Ed if they weren't careful. Alphonse didn't think that Mustang would be able to hold his own against this Ed, much less defeat him.

"Everyone, please calm down!!" shouted Alphonse, "Please, Ed, don't do anything rash. We don't want to fight and we most certainly don't want to turn you into someone else. Please, just calm down." Al had stepped in between Mustang and his brother who had been having a glaring contest. After Al said that Ed took a deep breath, he lowered his lance and his wings gave a little flap, they ruffled and then they went back to his side. Ed sighed after that and broke his gaze with Mustang. Mustang too relaxed after that, though it seemed to be forced.

"Alright, sorry about that, I know that losing someone you care about is hard, and I am really sorry for your loss. I may not understand what sort of behaviour is appropriate in Midgard, so please let me know if I do something that is uncouth. Even though I'm an angel I can understand what it is like to lose someone, I'm just a little frustrated because I'm being kept from my duties by being here." Said Edward sheepishly, he was leaning on his lance now and seemed reluctant to look them in the eye.

"Your duties?" asked Alphonse nervously.

"Yes, right now I should be fighting, exterminating demons and whatnot. The biggest battle of all time is going on and I'm stuck here, with a bunch of weak children!"

"Hey, we're not weak!" retorted Winry, "And we are **not** children!" Ed looked at her with an incredulous gaze.

"Compared to me you are." He stated.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Mustang, he still looked frustrated but he seemed to be trying his best not to show it.

"What I mean is; you are children compared to me! I have lived far longer than any of you, and far longer than any of you hope to live." He said, nodding his head.

"How long? You can't be much older than me; we were just a year apart before. And you don't look much older than me anyway." said Alphonse. There was no way his brother could be that much older than him; in fact they looked about the same age. Ed looked about 16 the same age Al was now, he should have been older but when he got his body back he only looked 10 years old, the same age he had been when it was taken away from him.

"I've been a Grim Angel for over five-thousand years."

Dead silence met that remark.

'_F-five thousand years?! What?!'_ Alphonse screamed in his mind, _'how can he be five thousand years old?! It's only been five years since we were separated.'_

"Y-you're joking right? T-this is just another joke." Alphonse looked desperately at Ed. Ed gave him a cool stare in return, it was no joke. "H-how can you be over five thousand years old?!"

"Simple. Time has no meaning to the gods." Said Ed with a shrug, "I've been in training for five thousand years in a place where time doesn't exist."

"A place where time doesn't exist? Is there really such a place?" asked Mustang breathlessly. It looked like the others were still reeling from his prior statement.

"All things are possible! Nothing is impossible so long as you keep an open mind and trust in the gods!" laughed Ed

"There's no such thing as there's no such thing" said Alphonse, he was recalling what the homunculus Greed had told him.

"Yeah! Exactly!" said Ed, he had gone back to smiling like he had at the hospital. "But I think that this is about enough for tonight, I don't think you guys can handle anymore today!"

Alphonse was startled at that. Tonight? He looked around, and sure enough outside the windows it was dark. Al had been so wrapped up in what they were talking about that he hadn't realized that the day was nearly finished.

"I guess we should call it a day. Thanks for telling us all that stuff, sorry for all the yelling earlier. Maybe tomorrow we can continue this conversation in a more civilized manner…" mumbled Al. He was so nervous about what to say, he knew that he was getting tired, and he could see that many of the others were getting tired as well, Fletcher was had fallen asleep on his brother's lap, but he had no idea if Edward was getting tired; did angels get sleepy?

Everyone got up and prepared to leave, they all had different places they were going to stay, some in the military dorms and others in hotels. Winry, her grandmother, Edward, and Alphonse were going to be staying with the Hughes's for a few days, after that they would see how much progress they had made with Ed and would go from there.

After the others left Gracia Hughes pointed out a room for the boys to stay in. The two said their goodnights and Al began his long restless night full of unanswerable questions and strange dreams about angels.


	8. Story time!

Finally, another chapter…. hope this sounds good and isn't too confusing. I know that some of the words will probably sound pretty weird… but don't worry too much about them. Ed's just letting everyone, including you the reader, know how the world is set up and such. Thanks for the reviews; I hope I keep getting them!

Enjoy!

**Divine Judgment**

**Chapter Eight**

"The universe we live in is divided into nine worlds. These worlds exist on the three levels of Asgard, Midgard, and Utgard."

"And right now we're in Midgard?"

Edward gave a frustrated sigh, this was the third time someone had interrupted him while he was trying to "educate" them. The rest of the group had returned to the Hughes' residence a little after nine in the morning, upon their arrival they reintroduced themselves to Edward and began to pelt him with countless questions. After trying to answer all of their questions, and not having the patience to answer the same question multiple times, Ed had decided to teach them in the same manner he taught the children of Asgard; through stories.

It had come as a surprise to Alphonse to find out that his brother had become a teacher; but after thinking about it he realized that his brother got along with children very well, considering the fact that he acted like one. After being teased by Mustang about being a teacher Ed had insisted that he wasn't really a teacher, he just happened to be a great storyteller. Not to mention he was the only Grim Angel who had anything to do with children.

"Yes, we are in Midgard now." answered Ed through gritted teeth, "Any other questions, Colonel Mustard?"

"For the last time, it's Mustang, **NOT** Mustard!"

"Whatever, it's all the same to me." said Ed as he yawned and stuck his pinkie in his ear to clean it out; it looked like he was doing this more to bug Mustang than to clear out the earwax. "Anyway! In the centre of the universe is the giant tree Yggdrasil, it binds all the other worlds together and is the source of all life. It has three roots located in the three levels of Asgard, Midgard, and Utgard. Each root has its own spring where it gets its water from. Urdarbrunnr, also known as the Well of Fate, is located in Asgard; Mimisbrunnr, or the Well of Wisdom, is located in Midgard; and the Spring Hvergelmir, or Roaring Cauldron, is located in Utgard. The water in these springs is very different from normal water. One sip from the Well of Wisdom will vastly increase the intellect of the drinker tenfold. Because of their magical properties they are each tightly guarded."

"This Well of Wisdom makes people smarter?! And it's here? In Midgard? Where can we find it?" asked Alphonse, heart racing. This could be the answer to everything! Water that makes people smarter! It sounds even better than the Philosopher's Stone! If they had that water they could do anything, know the answers to every problem. They could stop sickness! Maybe even death!

"Don't get your hopes up yet human." snarled Edward, snapping Al out of his fantasies. "Do you think that the gods would let just anyone drink from the fountain? Even the mighty god Odin had to pay a price to take a sip. Don't think that you are his equal; you would have to pay a much greater price. But then I'm thinking too much of you, you wouldn't even be able to get to it." said Ed, scorn dripping from his words as he spoke.

Ed glared down his nose at them, golden eyes judging them unworthy of the Truth he held so dear. Al squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. Ed's stare was making him feel guilty, he knew he made some mistakes in the past, but Ed had been there during many of those things too. Surely he deserved the same treatment Ed had received!

Alphonse looked around the room; he could tell that Ed's statement had angered many people there. He could practically see the steam coming off General Mustang. They had talked to him earlier and he had agreed to not fight with Ed, well, as much as humanly possible anyway. They still weren't quite sure that this Ed was friendly. It felt like every time they spoke with him it was proving the opposite.

"Alright. As you say, if you choose to believe those things it's your business, not ours. But be careful, there are only so many rude remarks about humans that we can brook. If you continue to speak to us like this you may find yourself alone." growled Mustang through gritted teeth. It looked like it was taking all his strength to remain in his seat. At first Al had thought that maybe this was one thing about Ed that hadn't changed: he still fought with the General at every chance he got. But after a few hours being in the same room with them he realized that the roles seemed to be reversed. Now it was Ed who had the upper hand, and the rude comments seemed to be a hundred times worse. It felt like Ed was looking for an excuse to kill Mustang.

This worried Al to no end. He had no doubt in his mind that this Edward could and would kill them if given the slightest chance. It was only the fact that despite all his posturing he had no real idea as to where he was and how he got here. It sickened Al to think of, but he was fairly sure that if Ed didn't think they were of any use to him they would be dead by now. He was scared that once they told Ed what they knew Ed would turn around and kill them all, just because he didn't like it or because he didn't feel that they were worthy to live.

That terrified Alphonse, and he knew it scared the others too. This Ed seemed to see himself as being better than everyone else. He seemed to think that because they were human they didn't matter. The Ed they knew didn't think this way. Al wondered just what he had gone through to make him believe this crazy notion.

"Huh… apparently you humans aren't as spineless and devious as I had been told. This is interesting. Alright human, I suppose that I have been a bit harsh on you." Said Ed crossing his arms in front of him and nodding as if agreeing to himself. "Fine, I will… try to treat you as equals… so far you haven't tried any of the stunts that humans are known for. In fact, you have been most pleasant. I'm glad I was found by you humans instead of that demon we saw the other day." Ed smiled as he said that, not his sinister smile, but what appeared to be a genuine smile of appreciation.


	9. doubt

Ninth chapter, finally. I'm sorry for the delay, again. Thank you for all the reviews. I really enjoy reading them. Hope you all like this, after this it should get more interesting… hopefully. Enjoy.

**Divine Judgment**

**Chapter Nine**

"You have deliberately been treating us poorly?" asked Al hesitantly. He looked first at Ed and then met the shocked stares of the others surrounding them. "Are you serious? Why did you do that?"

"Well, I had to test you and make sure you weren't like the humans my friend tells me about at every chance he gets. He's always telling me how terrible humans are; pretty much any angel will say that humans are terrible, deceitful creatures. I had started to believe that those things were true…" muttered Ed sheepishly, "I had to test you and see if you guys were like that."

"So you didn't trust us from the start did you?" growled Mustang, black eyes blazing.

"Not in the slightest. But I have to say, I feel a bit foolish for baiting you, and for not getting a wink of sleep all last night." said Ed, right hand rubbing the back of his head nervously. He was seated in the center of the living room on a chair from the kitchen that had been moved out there specifically for him. He wanted to sit on a fairly narrow chair, so he wouldn't crush his wings by leaning back; instead they fell to his sides. Everyone else sat around him, watching him expectantly.

"Wait, you didn't sleep last night?" asked Hughes with raised eyebrows, "Why didn't you sleep?"

"Well, I didn't want any of you to come in during the night and slit my throat. I was starting to think that at the very least Mustang would try, just because I said all those things the other day to piss him off." He said that with a nervous smile, he quickly glanced at General Mustang a few times as he spoke.

"You were purposefully leading me on?" gasped Mustang, the man looked surprised. In the past as far as Al could remember, Mustang had always been the one to lead Ed around in circles, seemed like Mustang was getting his comeuppance.

"Yeah, sorry about that… as far as I could tell you were hot headed and the one I had the most to worry about. I had to test you to see how far you would actually go." Ed said all this casually, as if he were commenting on the weather. "I can understand that you all are probably mad at me, I know that having someone not believe you, especially if you've been nothing but honest with them, is tough. I hope you can come to forgive me for my mistrust…"

"You bastard!! How dare you take our hospitality that we gave you out of the goodness in our hearts and turn around and stab us in the back! We did all we could to help you and you haven't trusted us from the start!" shouted Mustang. He had risen to his feet out of rage and was glaring daggers at Ed.

"Hehehehe. Yeah, I guess you could say I'm a bastard…I can understand your anger. On that note, I suggest we take a short break. You guys probably need some time to cool down, and I want to have a look at this city." said Ed, with a small cheeky grin on his face.

"A break?" mumbled Alphonse. He could see the good a break would have, several of the people here looked like they wanted a chance to strangle Ed, or at least beat him into a bloody pulp for not believing them. He could see Mustang's fingers twitching, he was very glad the man had a lot more self control than the brother he knew. "A break sounds good, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea for you to leave the house. What with your wings and all…"

"That's why I can do this!" said Ed cheerfully. As he said that he stood up and moved his wings so they came in front of him. The hooked claws at the joints grasped each other and then he let them fall over his shoulders. Now it looked like he was wearing a big feathery cloak instead of wings. "See! Don't I just totally blend in now?"

…. His remark sent the entire room into an awkward silence.

"… It looks… okay. I suppose you could get away with that. Maybe people will think that you come from someplace really hot, and you find Amestris cold…" muttered Hughes, running a hand thoughtfully along his beard.

"Yeah, see no problem! I'll give you guys some time to calm your nerves and I'll take a peek at just how life goes about in Midgard." laughed Ed as he made his way toward the door that led to the outside world.

"Just make sure you get back here before nightfall. We don't want to have to go looking around in the dark for a stupid lost angel." growled Mustang through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself, and if worst comes to worst I can always fly back here." As Ed said that he reached the door and opened it silently. "See you!" With that he disappeared out the door into the bright sunshine.

"Damn that brat!" yelled Mustang, forcing himself back into his chair. He rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.

Al decided that he should give everyone a little time to get over this latest shock. He retreated to the room that he and Ed had slept in last night, well the room he had slept in and the one Ed had feinted sleep in. He looked over the bed Ed had used. The sheets were neatly made, it hardly seemed like anyone had been in it at all. His eyes were drawn to something resting in the center of the bed, it was small, and it almost completely blended in with the dark blue blankets.

It was a feather. It was fairly small, only about the length of his index finger. Al held it in the sunlight that filtered through the window to get a better look at it. It looked black when he held it normally, but if he tilted it to the side he could see a red tint to it. Al smiled softly; this was one of Ed's feathers. He had wondered exactly what colour his wings were, he had thought that the red he saw on them was blood from when they first came out, but it looked like they got their red colour from something besides the blood.

'_There are still so many questions I have for Ed; there are so many things about angels I don't understand. I hope that when he comes back he can answer them…'_

Time passes

"That stupid kid. I can't believe he was tricking us from the start." growled Mustang, fist slamming against the hard wooden table. Much of the group had gathered around the kitchen table to discuss Ed. Three hours had passed and there still was no sign of him.

"I don't think that he's stupid. I think it would be stupid to completely trust a bunch of people you just met and don't know." Said Al slowly, looking at his folded hands in front of him instead of Mustang's eyes. He knew the man cared deeply for his brother, but he never believed Ed meant so much to him.

"But we do know him…" murmured Winry.

"He doesn't know that…" muttered Mustang. He clenched his fist tighter and ground his teeth together. He let out a strained sigh, "I guess we better go look for him and apologize. Damn that brat. Ever since he got back he's been nothing but trouble."

"He's always been trouble. That's one way that he hasn't changed." sniffled Winry, rubbing her gentle eyes with her small hand.

"Yeah. We better get going though if we want to find him before it gets dark. Who knows how far he's traveled." said Al as he stood and grabbed his red coat from the closet. Well, it was his brother's old coat, but since Ed had disappeared Al had gotten used to wearing it. Mustang and Winry followed him; they both grabbed their respective coats from the closet as well and put their shoes on in preparation to leave.

"Wait. If you're going to look for him you should take this." said Major Armstrong, handing Alphonse a folded piece of paper. Al took it and upon unfolding it saw that it was a sketch of Ed, feathery cloak included. "It may be of use if you try asking around for him."

"Thank you Major. We'll make good use of it." said Al, bowing slightly in appreciation. He then turned around and began to leave the house, red trench coat flying behind him in the wind. "Alright, let's go find Ed!"


	10. Meeting the Magi

I finally wrote another chapter. Enjoy! Thanks for all the reviews, please feel free to ask questions, make comments, and give suggestions. I really appreciate them.

By the way...is anyone actually reading this anymore? Let me know, 'cause if no one cares about this then I won't bother wasting anymore time on it...

**Divine Judgment**

**Chapter Ten**

Ed had been walking through this strange town for hours now. It was quite large, and so bright! Ed had been startled when he had first gone outside. There was this large yellow glowing thing hanging in the sky! And what was even stranger was that no one seemed to notice, or care for that matter! When asked an old woman about it, she had given him a strange look and asked if he was stupid.

People here weren't very nice.

He had heard stories of this disk called a 'sun' that would circle the world, but he never believed that such a wonderful thing existed. It was truly wonderful, it was so warm! If he had the time he would have spent all his time away from those stuffy humans lying in the sunlight, wings outstretched so he could fully enjoy it.

But as it stood now he had something he needed to do before anything else happened. He needed to contact his superiors. He had spent the majority of the day looking for a place he could safely do that without being discovered by any of the pesky, rude humans who wandered the streets. The all gave him strange looks, as if they had never seen a Grim Angel before! The nerve of them!

He was walking through a more rundown part of the town now; maybe he could use one of these seemingly abandoned buildings to make his report. He walked down an alleyway and found himself in front of a large rundown building. It looked like an old church. It had a large partially intact stained-glass window above the large wooden doors that were falling in on themselves.

It was sad, it would have been a beautiful building before, but now it was reduced to rubble.

He would make the call here.

He walked inside, carefully avoiding the pieces of wood and stone that were littered on the floor. He walked past the broken-down pews towards the alter that stood at the head of the chapel. He glanced briefly at the objects on the alter, nothing really remained, all the valuable items once used for worship had been stolen.

'_What a shame.'_ thought Ed sadly.

He made his way to the back of the alter and began to run his right hand over his Immoral Rosary that hung around his neck. He knew that owning one was forbidden, but that hadn't stopped Josiah from giving it to him. Maybe it was alright since it couldn't possibly be as bad as the taboo broken by the gods when they had created the black winged Grim Angels. That must have been it; this talisman that gave him strength was probably nothing compared to what the gods had done to save Asgard.

"_Josiah! Come forth, your humble servant calls you_!" he shouted, his strong voice easily filling the entire room. The ancient tongue flowing easily off his lips. He missed speaking it; the common language was just so…pathetic. He loved the flair of the words when speaking in the ancient languages.

He waited for a while, he knew that the gap between the worlds was wide; he needed to give the message time to reach Asgard. Patience wasn't his strong suit however.

He began smoothing out his dark feathers and was just starting to think of calling again when suddenly a small figure in a long blue flowing robe appeared floating in midair. The figure had large black and dark blue striped wings made out of fabric flowing at his sides. The robe that covered his head was obscuring his face, only a few strands of brown hair were visible under the fabric.

"_Grim Angel, servant of the gods… why have you strayed from your mission_?" came the deep voice of the Magi. It had been awhile since Ed had last seen him, he had forgotten how much he hated being in the presence of a Magi. They treated the Grim Angels like mindless soldiers, like weapons without thoughts or feelings of their own.

"_It was not my doing; I was taken here against my will. I wish to return to my duties as a Grim Angel; however, it has been brought to my attention that there is a demon infestation here in Midgard._" Replied Ed, he didn't think that the Magi would let him off with that however. All the Magi cared about was putting an end to the war that ravaged Asgard; they cared nothing for the angels lost during the struggle or the innocents caught up in it.

"_Asgard is your priority, do not forget that. Return to Asgard and complete your mission._"

"_As long as there are demons here I cannot leave until they are vanquished. My primary objective is to pass judgment on demons; I will eradicate the ones here and then return to Asgard._"

There was a tense silence that lasted several moments, during which time Ed became distinctly aware of several figures that had entered the church at some point. He didn't know when they had gotten here or who they were; all he knew was that there were three of them. They were directly behind him, and he didn't dare turn around in case he offended Josiah. He knew that he was already on bad terms with the man; he didn't want to make it any worse. Plus he doubted that those humans could understand what was being said, this language had been forgotten here after all.

"_Very well. But take this, it should always remain by your side; Angel of Justice. Do not allow it to fall into the wrong hands._" said Josiah somberly as he held out his small hands in front of him. A light shone between them and a large book appeared in the space where it originated. The book hovered over to Ed who held his arms out and grabbed it.

It was his copy of the _Book of Life_. He was honored to be able to hold it again. The god Odin had given it to him when he had first became a Grim Angel; however, once the Magi had seen it they had taken it in to get it analyzed. He had only briefly got to use it; he still had so much reading to do if he was ever going to finish it and unlock its secrets!

"_Thank you, Lord Josiah. I will obey the will of the gods and pass judgment on the demons._" He gave Josiah a low bow as he began to disappear.

He was deeply grateful that he hadn't been asked who had teleported him to Midgard in the first place. He was unsure how the gods would react to the news that what he had given up to become an angel was trying to force its way back into his life. He didn't want to cause the people who had found him anymore grief than he already had.

He turned around, ready to show these…unfortunate people just why you should honor an angel of death and not give them scrutinizing looks. When he turned around and saw just who was standing there those thoughts became the last things on his mind.

Standing on the threshold were Alphonse Elric, Winry Rockbell, and Roy Mustang. His 'younger brother', his 'childhood friend', and his 'boss'. He still wasn't sure how much of that was true, but he didn't think that they were lying to him. But there was still the possibility that they had him confused with someone else. It was a little disconcerting that they had gotten his name right though.

And even more concerning was the fact that this kid had managed to successfully teleport him here, traveling between the worlds was hard enough, but to drag an unwilling participant across the void must have been _extremely_ challenging. And the kid wasn't even a Sprite! He might have been able to understand if the kid had that going for him, but no, he was just a pathetic human! How the hell did he pull it off?

However he did it, Ed didn't think it boded well with who he had been staying with at the time he was 'carried off'.

"Hello." He greeted, trying to sound cheerful, the common language sounding strange on his tongue after his reverting back to his old ways. He tried to hold the book under his arm, but it was too huge and threatened to knock him off balance. He wanted to at least have some respect from these people.

He wondered why they were here, it was tradition in Asgard to give someone a full 24 hours to recuperate after you had wronged them, and he was pretty sure it hadn't been that long yet. In fact he had heard stories of how in Midgard the passage of their 'sun' would mark the time of day, at night it would disappear and be replaced by another disk called the 'moon'. He kind of wanted to see that, and he was fairly sure that hadn't happened yet. He wondered if this 'moon' was as beautiful as the stars were back at home.

"What are you doing here? Who was that kid you were talking to? And what in the world is that book you're carrying?!" asked the dark-haired man named Mustang. He had jumped in before Alphonse had time to speak, Ed could tell that irritated the boy.

But how to answer those questions… Ed still didn't know if these guys had 'forgiven' him, or if they just came here to pester him. The look on their faces, other than Mustang's, seemed to be ones of concern. Maybe they were worried about him? Strange, no one 'worried' about him in Asgard; they all knew that he was strong enough to take care of himself.

Was this 'worry' a human thing?

"I just came here to let my superior know where I was. Don't want them to mark me as dead, or worse; as a deserter." said Ed with a grin. "And you should show some respect! That was one of the Magi I was talking to, **not** a kid!"

"A Magi? Is that one of the Æsir?" asked Alphonse, appearing genuinely curious, unlike the other two.

"Yep!" chirped Ed.

"Are all the Æsir so short?" asked Mustang with a smirk. A short joke again? This guy was boring, but the way he said it seemed to suggest he was expecting something other than an answer. Weird.

"Yes, the Æsir are all short. We have to fly after all. If we all had bodies as big as yours it would take us so much energy just to get a foot off the ground. We adapted to this height to make it easier for us to fly." said Ed with a shrug as he began walking past them into the red evening sunlight. "Plus if you're a Grim Angel like me, the less of a target you are the better!"

The others seemed to take a few seconds to get over his statement, perhaps they were hit with the indubitable logic of it? No, that wasn't it; he saw it in that Mustang guy's eyes. They had been expecting something else…but what?

Ed thought back to the last time the man had made a joke about his height, right it was in the hospital. And what did he say? He made a joke of it, was that what they had wanted? Huh. Too late now. He did make jokes like that before in Asgard, but since he had successfully recovered from becoming an angel he had to stop making them, he was a soldier now, calm and collected.

Ed shrugged again and picked up his pace. He was looking forward to reading from the _Book of Life_ again. Maybe learn some new spells, brush up on his history. It was going to be a good night, and maybe he could even get a glimpse of the 'moon'.


End file.
